Thousand Hands
by ToBetasered
Summary: They were the sen no te o motsu ichizoku, a clan with a thousand skills. With the destruction of Uzushiogakure, the waning line of the Senju main family gains new life in the form of Senju Naruto.
1. Chapter 1

******Disclaimer: This is a Naruto fanfiction Naruto is the original work of the author Masashi Kishimoto.**

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**Chapter One**

* * *

Our choices alter the course of history. This is true, whether great or small the choices we make change the world. Sometimes the changes are as simple as a person in the right place at the right time...

There were no words to describe what he was feeling at to moment. It was all… all of it, gone. His home, his country, his people scattered across the earth, fleeing for their lives. What he felt was not rage. His rage had come and gone. He was an old man and his strength was by necessity, better spent on things other than rage.

After a time of frantic evacuation from the Kumo and Mizu forces that had ravaged Uzushiogakure he had led the other survivors deep into the mainland. His strength lasted long enough to prevent the refugees from collapsing into chaos and despair. Stubbornly, he bullied them or plied them with calming words and logic until the families divided themselves into caravans.

In order to hide from their enemies each assigned family head chose a new name from a list that he created. The surviving jounins scattered among the groups to guard them as they hid, or traveled the lands, as far away from the main front of the war as they could manage. When it was over and what had to be said was said, the former master of the Village of the Whirling Tides seemed to shrink into himself.

He waited until the other leaders had left to prepare themselves before doing it, grieving alone in the dark, recounting the names and faces of all his lost children and grand children. He was eighty-five years old, and had lived through eras of both war and peace. Once-blue eyes, now storm-grey, idly watched the myriad of dents and old scars that traced across his armor. In truth, he was preparing to die. His stubborn pride would not allow him to live on as a burden while his children struggled to adapt to their harsh new world. His great-grandson Hiroshi was a young but capable man, the caravan would be fine without him, and the hunters sure to be after the rare sealing knowledge that he knew.

Wearily, he rose to his feet. The wakizashi was set on a stand before his armor, the pieces were to be recycled or destroyed and he would rather die before either happened. Uzumaki Hisao approached his blade with a stride that spoke of grim finality. Gently, he lifted the weapon from its stand and then, with great care he drew the blade which rasped softly as it left the turtle shell patterned sheath. Lips, in a firm line, he lifted the wakizashi high.

He knew not how long he stood there in contemplation, poised to slide the shōtō blade between his ribs and into his heart in a single thrust. He gave obeisance to his ancestors and prayed for the wellbeing of his family. His mind was clear, and his heart was calm but still he did not drive the point home.

"Ugh, uuu, uh, uuu…"

He refused to die crying, it was mortifying! God Damnit!

"Uhu, ha, uuuu, uuuu… mama, uuu…"

In his flustered state it took a while for Hisao to realize the his face was dry and he wasn't crying for his mama. As the old man gathered himself, it quickly became clear that the source of the soft sobs was someone other than he. He cast his eyes around, peering into the darkened corners of the tent looking for the voice. His eyes widened when the sobs began again.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuu, mama, papa!"

An oft-broken, liver spotted nose, tipped over the lip of his armor as he peered at the culprit that had disturbed him.

"Uuuuuuuuuu, uuuuuuuuu…"

He tossed aside the sheath and lifted the armor with one hand. A crying toddler was revealed, approximately four years of age. Her red hair and what little of her face that he could see identified her as another of his great-grandchildren. One of Juurou's grandchildren most likely, she reminded him of Mito from the shape of her head which was so like his younger cousin's. He vaguely remembered Juurou's daughter Minako had strongly inherited Mito's looks…

"Uuuuu!"

His time of reminiscing was interrupted by the child's soft cries and he felt oddly discomfited. His stubborn pride would not allow him to carry out what he had been planning before this young four year old girl. More to the point, seeing his cute great-grandchild cry didn't sit well with him. A bit too gruffly, he bit out.

"Young one, what do you think you're doing, rusting my armor with tears? Hmm?"

Startled from her despair, the girl's round face looked up at Hisao… and then his sword.

"Hiiieeeee!" She squealed, tumbling back ward. Hisao grabbed her before she fell off the low table.

"Easy girl!" He grunted in exasperation. "Are you a proud woman of the Uzumaki clan or aren't you? Dry your tears!" He waved the sword around before pointing its tip at the ceiling. "We will not give in to despair, not when your parents have given their lives so that we others can live on! We will not give up, not while a single member of this clan yet draws breath!" The old man raged. "You, girl!" He pointed the index finger of his free hand into her face. "God damnit, what are you doin' sitting in the dark _sobbing_? Lift up yer head God damnit or so help me! Yer a woman of the Uzumaki clan! Are yer gonna just lay down and **_cry_**?"

At first the four year old had simply been frightened of the raging elder, but there was something in the tone of his words that prodded at her. Eventually not even the waving sword and violent threats distracted her from the look on his face. There was sadness, yes, but also determination and a sense of outrage at the thought of simply giving up. It was the last that broke the young girl from her funk and even Hisao seemed startled when she suddenly shot to her feet, ignoring the flailing blade that nearly decapitated her.

"I'm not giving up, I'm not, datte ne! Jiji… Jiji! I'm not!" She told him fiercely with a lisping voice, young and high. Her pudgy cheeks reddened in anger and she shook her shoulder-length red hair in defiance. Showing the kind of dexterity only a shinobi-bred child could have at such a young age, the girl jumped to the ground and stomped her foot while pointing directly into Hisao's face just as he had done to her.

"I'm not gonna give up datte ne! Papa, Mama! I'm a proud woman o'the Uzumaki clan." The child screamed right back at him.

Then the little monster kicked him in the shins before running for the tent opening, roughly hitting an arthritic knee as she ran past. Hiroshi found him there later, clutching at his leg and chuckling. The little girl from earlier could be heard, presumably haranguing the other orphans outside.

"What'cha cryin for datte ne! Yer a man of the Uzumaki Clan ain'tcha ne!"

"B-but Kushina-chan, I'm not a man, I'm a little boy…"

-Smack-

"Man up Ken-chan! Datte-ne!" Was the girl's terrifyingly merciless reply.

Hisao guffawed.

Hiroshi knelt next to him, "Thank goodness, it seems you're alright, Hisao-ojii-sama. What are we going to do next? Where are we going?"

Hisao peered at the worried face of his great-grandson, the oldest of those still alive. He was a fine young man, nineteen years old. Nineteen years was still too young for such responsibility, what had he been thinking God damn it? Hisao grunted and stood, beckoning the younger man to do the same. "There should be a patrol north of here, seal up our gear and have the rear guard erase our tracks until we get to the road." Hisao said making toward the opening of the tent.

"Where are we going?" Hiroshi asked confusedly, as he followed his elder, then the teen's eyes widened in realization, "We're going there?" He gasped.

Hisao smiled sardonically, "Mito's always been inviting me over but I could never take the time." He smile, "C'mon boy, we're going to have a little family reunion."

* * *

_The Senju Ichizoku was considered the strongest ninja clan during the era of the Shinobi Clan Wars. Perhaps this could in part be attributed to their philosophy of training. Where many clans in that era mastered a few basic techniques and focused on one specific clan technique or school of techniques that they developed and then jealously guarded it's secret workings, the Senju clan was noted for doing exactly the opposite._

_Each member of the Senju worked to develop and master what techniques were best suited to themselves. If a member was a genjutsu type that member strived to master genjutsu. If a member had a talent for ninjutsu or taijutsu, then, in addition to their normal shinobi training, clan members with the desired skills would take the time to help their kouhai master the technique._

_Of course, individually, lower level members of the clan usually traded skill in a specific area of specialization for a more general shinobi education. That is to say, when compared to a member of a rival clan that specialized in a certain technique and spent their time mastering it. However, this more general approach showed its advantages when the Senju of the Forest sent out teams of shinobi. _

_A clan that specialized in close combat techniques would find its members pitted against a mix of long-range ninjutsu users, poison experts, genjutsu users **in addition** to taijutsu specialists. A clan of genjutsu users would find that the Senju not only had their own genjutsu specialists, **but** **in addition** there were ninja facing them with abilities that countered their own skills._

_It was this versatility that made the Senju and Uchiha, a clan renowned for the Sharingan's power to analyze and understand techniques for later adoption, the supreme ninja groups during the Clan Wars. But it was the teamwork displayed by the Senju that truly gave the clan an edge over all others, even their rivals the Uchiha. Where among the Uchiha, only the very strongest survived to pass on their legacy, the Senju battlefield philosophy promoted the survival of the group, eventually allowing members to survive long enough to gain the experience, level and variety of skill necessary to survive on the battlefield._

_It also helped that while the Senju did possess secret techniques, none of them required that clan members limit their breeding potential like the Hyuuga, so as to preserve the strength and secrets of a bloodline; nor confine their number of active ninja to those with the ability to perform a certain skill, like the Uchiha, of whom only half of the Clan were ever able to manifest the Sharingan during their lifetimes._

_One could argue that given the course of history, the name of the Uchiha is still well known and used while the Senju at this time have only one heir, it can thus be argued that the Senju philosophy was flawed. This argument would however be utterly wrong and show a flawed and incomplete understanding of history. Having no specific bloodline, the mokuton ability having since died with the Shodaime Hokage, Hashirama Senju; the Senju clan instead disbanded into the many shinobi families that populate Konohagakure. The Namikaze, Yuhei, Hatake, Umino families and the Kurama clan are examples of this. _

_In this sense, it can be said that the village of Konoha, with its hundreds of thousands of shinobi, who are taught according to the old philosophy of co-operation and teamwork, is a testament to the continued survival of the Senju clan's influence. This is especially true when one considers that the one country - one shinobi village, something first begun by the fledgling Senju-Uchiha Alliance is a system that has been adopted throughout the greater majority of the Elemental Nations._

_-Excerpt from Ninja Densetsu by Uzumaki Hisao. _

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**Chapter Two**

"Hah, hah, huff, hah…"

He was panting like a dog as he ran along the forest floor. Always, for as long as he remembered, he dreamed of this forest. It reminded him of the one that surrounded his clan's compound.

"Hah, Haff…"

He felt so… safe here, whether it was the trees, or his many memories of time spent having picnics or leisurely walks with ojii-sama, kaa-san and onee-chan, he didn't know. It was a place that he came to for comfort at night, just as he had trained under the real trees during the day, in the forest that was called the Heart of Konoha.

Sometimes he slept in the roots of the trees, though now only in his dreams as the last time he had done so for real, he'd been awoken by a tearful kaa-san, surrounded by the men in funky masks who he later learnt were AnBu. The mask-men weren't so bad but he never again wanted to see kaa-san cry. He wasn't even punished like the other times he'd done wrong and that'd made it all even worse. Kaa-san, kaa-san, he loved his kaa-san.

The ochre trunks and vibrant green leaves on the dream branches overhead dulled slightly in accordance with his mood. He knew himself to be asleep and willed himself to run faster for he loved running. He had loved it ever since the first time he had ever been allowed to roam freely in their family garden. He'd run and run that first day until he'd tripped and fallen into the Koi pond, unpleasantly startling the fish.

In his dreams however, he remembered things differently. He hadn't fallen in as Hisao-ojii-sama, Saru-jii, and Kaa-san said. In his dreams he felt a faint spurt of terror as something looped around his ankles and yanked his four-year old body off-balance and into the water. His dreams of what happened after were all fuzzy, filled with shadowy tendrils that undulated across his vision. He did remember though, that a few days later was the time he first met Yamato-aniki, his goofy aniki who was always making the funny eyes at nee-chan.

"Naruto…"

He turned toward the source of the voice calling him and saw nothing.

"Naruto…"

A soundless wind began to stir the trees as he ran through the forest.

"Naruto…"

He tilted himself forward, throwing his arms back for stability as he ran low to the ground. His stride allowed him to pass among the trees in a blur, leaping over fallen boughs and latching onto trunks to bleed of speed for sudden changes in direction. In his dream it seemed as if he moved at the speed of thought. His heart rate sped up as he imagined dodging the swaying boughs on trees by little more than a hair's breadth.

"Naruto-kun…"

Eventually the foliage cleared to reveal what he somehow knew to be a large cave entrance that had been capped by a large rock. Etched into the rock were the Kanji 'Iron Armor' and on either side of the rock was a sacred tree. On one was pinned a paper tag inscribed with the kanji for 'Smooth River' on the other was a tag with the words 'Gentle Passage. Vibrant green vines seemed to be tightly binding the rock to the cave entrance almost causing the two to look like they melded together.

Suddenly the rock glowed cherry-red and a wave of heat hit Naruto causing him to reel backward. An ominous voice sounded from behind the rock.

**NARUTOOO… YOU BASTARD, I'LL KILL YOU!**

"Wake up!"

-thump!-

"W-wuh-wha!" Naruto groaned groggily as he tumbled on the floor. One sleepy eye focused on Shizune-nee-chan, who held his covers and bed sheet in one hand, wearing an exasperated expression on her face. "Nee-chan, so mean…"

The woman just snorted, tossing the blue cloth in her hands aside. Shizune placed her hands on her hips and assumed what Naruto mentally called, 'Shizune-onee-chan's Lecture Pose Number One'. Her chin lifted slightly, her stance widened and she thrust her chest out a little. Yamato-aniki always paid attention to her when she did that last bit. It was a little creepy the way he stared but Shizune-nee either didn't notice or care about it, though, he did once trick Aniki into doing his chores for the day when he confronted him about it.

Something Shizune said penetrated his sleep-addled mind. "Wait, what?" He asked. "Sorry, sorry, what did you say?"

Shizune's cheeks puffed up as she glared at him, "I said that today's the day they hand out team assignments." She pointed to the clock. Naruto's eyes widened as he snatched it up. The clock's minute hand was showing that he had less than ten minutes to get ready.

"Ahhh! I'm late!" He screamed, ignoring Shizune's muttered, 'Baka' in his panic. Ripping off his tadpole nightcap, he grabbed a towel and raced out the room.

Shizune peered out the door, watching as he nearly crashed into a servant before hastily apologizing as he skipped into the bathroom. When the door shut with a slam, Shizune allowed a slight chuckle to escape her lips. Walking over to the nightstand, she picked up the alarm clock from where it Naruto had dropped it and turned off the alarm trigger. With a mischievous grin, she turned back the hour hand from eight to seven.

Five minutes later a cursing Naruto ran into the empty bedroom almost tripping as he hurriedly pulled on a pair of knee-length jeans while sloppily fitting a hooded-sweater over a black t-shirt and chain mesh vest. He fell to the floor with a thump and a light curse before rummaging around for his sandals. Popping his head up like a jackrabbit, He craned his neck around before seeing his hitai-ate next to the clock. He snatched up a belt with holsters, hip packs and scroll holsters dangling from it as he ran out of the room, hopping awkwardly as he tried to get his left sandal to fit his right foot even as his hands fumbled with the belt while his fore-head protector was clenched between his teeth.

Then Naruto walked back into his room and looked at his clock...

"Nee-chan is mean…" Naruto groused on the way down to breakfast. His sandals were on the right feet and the orange and black hoodie he wore, the one with the brown fur lining, was properly covering the holster belt that wrapped around his waist and torso. His mother had pitched a fit when she'd first seen the brightly colored sweater that he'd picked out, but his love of the glorious orange color held sway over his stubborn refusal to change it. In the end Shizune had won the older woman over by stitching a reversible camouflage cloth covering onto the inside and getting his Gramps to add extra protections to it later.

"Hmm, Naruto, still wearing that monstrosity are we?" Hisao said upon noticing him come down the stairs. Naruto sagged at the reminder that Hisao-jiji also hated his choice in clothing. The old man's greeting also had the effect of drawing his mother's undivided attention to him.

"Naruto, you're just in time." Tsunade said as she whacked Hiroshi's hand with a ladle. The old man quietly grumbled as he retracted his hand from the butter dish he'd reached for and looked morosely at what was left for him to eat:- the piece of bread, baked by a servant; the bowl of fruit, prepared by Shizune; and a steaming mess that his in-law called porridge. Wisely, he ate the fruit and bread before attempting to leave.

Tsunade wacked him with the ladle so hard it bent and as Hisao sagged into his chair dazed, she turned back to a frozen Naruto and saw Shizune who had joined him at the stairs. "Come on you two, I made us breakfast."

"K-kaa-san… made breakfast." Naruto didn't sound pleased and Shizune edged upstairs as Naruto whimpered, "Nee-chan, I'm scared."

Tsunade's fist crumpled the metal handle of the ladle before she bellowed, "Oi! Get down here and eat, you too Shizune."

Hisao grunted from where he sat, "Woman, is this supposed to be oatmeal? Why's it got sand in it? God damn it?"

-Thwack!-

"No cursing! It's just some vitamin and mineral supplements that I added. I'll have you know that the clay is good for digestion." She explained to the grimacing man. Then she peered at him sharply, "You don't fool me, stop making hand signs under the table!" The ladle swished and gained yet another ding in it.

"God damn it!"

-Thwack!-

The family and servants normally went out of their way to keep Tsunade away from the stove but it seemed like they had failed this time. Naruto did the only thing that he could do in such a situation, he used Hisao as a distraction to butter up some bread and threw Shizune to the figurative wolves, "Kaa-san, nee-chan's always been wanting to try your cooking, kaa-san! But I've gotta go before I'm late! Dattebayo!"

Then he threw himself out the kitchen window, seconds ahead of his mother's grasping hand, he landed in the garden as a crumpled ladle sailed over head, "Naruto! Get back here you brat!" His mother bellowed.

He made a straight dash for the outer wall as he chewed on his meager, but palatable, breakfast and he leapt over it in a single bound. Naruto didn't stop running until he'd cut through a patch of forest and got onto the main road leading down to the village. Waiting for him near a Jizo, was his Hisao-ojii-sama. The old man sighed as Naruto walked up to him and turned away from the view of the village below them in order to take in the sight of his great-great-grandson. He could see Kushina in the set of the boy's jaw and speech. Looking over the Konoha headband he sighed again at the unruly mop of blond hair that Naruto had been growing out of late, his headband kept his bangs out of his eyes but to Hisao it just looked like a blond brush tip.

Focusing upon the expectant child, he handed him a scroll, saying, "Naruto, as I'm sure your mother has told you, we're all very proud that you've passed the academy exam. According to your report card, you scored the highest ever in the written portion and third highest in the practical test of all your peers. Although I wish you hadn't done so abysmally in the genjutsu tests."

Naruto winced, even with his mother's aid, Shizune's and Yamato-aniki's help, it was all he could do just to create a couple of simple bunshin and even that had taken Hisao placing a seal on him.

The old man noticed his look and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder reassuringly. "We all have our weaknesses and strengths, my gandkid Kushina was the same way, don't give up and keep trying, make that weakness your strength." Hisao said forcefully.

Naruto looked up at him with bright eyes and pumped his fist in the air, "Hai!"

Hisao nodded fondly, "You've already mastered the Shikoku Fūin and Jumon Bunpitsu no Fūjin. Your timing and speed of application of the first two basic Shishou Fūinjutsu is also impeccable. The scroll I just gave you contains instructions on two others, be careful when you use it, the contents are protected." Naruto nodded.

Hisao then picked up another bundle from behind the Jizo. Naruto's eyes brightened when he realized what it was. Hisao's hands held an orange and red scroll, the length of the thirteen year old boy's arm, with an adjustable strap connected to the spindle. Setting it down, the man unscrewed one end of the spindle and revealed a jumon fude, the special sealing brush Naruto had seen the other Uzumaki clan members use for their more advanced techniques. Hisao then gripped the handle below the brush and twisted, revealing that the brush was also a disguised shikomizue. The cane sword's blade was double edged and one of its faces was raised slightly making it look a bit like a chisel. It was about the length of Naruto's forearm.

"Hmmm," Hisao sighed, "I placed a juinjutsu on this blade, the sheath is designed to channel your chakra and use the brush's sealing ink as a medium to transfer the curse so be careful around others. Here," He said, showing Naruto a set of symbols etched into the flat face of the blade. The boy peered at the weapon and only recognized that the seals on it were in the Eight Trigrams style which he hadn't started learning.

"Ojii-sama, what does it do?" The boy asked.

"It's an immobilizing seal designed to stop opponents in their tracks," Hisao explained, "You channel a little chakra into the handle to activate the transfer ritual and use the half-rat seal to trigger the jutsu itself. A strong enough opponent can power through them though, so be wary. The rest are preservation seals and a blood locking seal for the blade. Here, daub some of your blood along this face."

Following the old man's instructions, Naruto bit his thumb and pressed the pad of his finger, causing the blood to well up. Then in a swift stroke, he painted the line of symbols on the flat side of the blade that Hisao held a dark red. For a second the two watched as the symbols glowed before turning a solid black color.

"Now be careful," Hisao repeated, "The technique works best if you can get some of the ink on your opponent's skin, keep that in mind, I'll teach you later how to use that jumon brush properly so don't do something stupid, ya hear me!"

"Hai!" Naruto responded sheepishly, it wasn't the first time that he'd been caught playing around with someone else's Jumon brush.

"This blade can work for slashing and stabbing," Hisao stated, "It's thicker and protected from wear so with enough force it can even penetrate armor. But be careful, the trigger seals are tuned to you now, to anyone else the slightest nick will cause temporary paralysis. They won't be able to move or use ninjutsu and if this blade touches an organ it will shut it down. Keep that in mind and don't screw around with it right!" He repeated the last a bit forcefully, causing Naruto to nod his head hastily in acquiescence.

Hisao looked at the boy flintily as if to gauge whether or not to give him the weapon. Naruto gulped and did his best to look serious and resolute, his look was so familiar that the old man struggled not to smile as he reassembled the shikomizue and fitted the brush back into the spindle. By the time he was standing Hisao could no longer hold in the full blown grin that stretched across his face.

"Naruto, you make me so proud…" He said quietly, "Become a good man and an even greater ninja alright?"

Hisao smiled as his cute grandchild looked up at him with wide blue eyes, he watched as the boy put the scroll over his shoulder and walk over to the edge of the cliff. Naruto placed one hand on the Senju clan patch hanging from his right shoulder, and the other on the Uzumaki clan symbol hanging from his left. Hisao thought the boy might be crying but was stopped from speaking when Naruto looked back at him resolutely, his eyes clear.

"Jiji, I'll show you, I'll become a great man so watch me. I'll become the greatest ninja of all, I'll be a Hokage greater than any other!" And then he leapt off the cliff…

"**LOOK OUT KONOHA! SENJU NARUTO IS COMING TO TOWN! DATTE-"**

People walking around the streets below, looked up at the squalling voice of the Senju heir, even those who couldn't make out what he was saying smiled, there were few people in the village who hadn't heard of his antics. They went about their day, a little happier, chuckling at the young child's exuberant cries.

"**-BAYOOOOOO!"**

Hisao stood at the ledge, watching Naruto's progress through the foliage, tracking him really by the noise he made rather than that obnoxious set of clothes. He remembered another child from long ago and suddenly felt his age.

"_Hmm, God damn it…"_ He mused sadly in his thoughts, _"Just like her, always getting carried away…"_

Without turning around he spoke, "Yes, what is it Anbu-san?"

A seal that Hisao had set on the head of the Jizo glowed as a blurred form, crossed the _Genjutsu Kekkai no Fūin: Mori no Kuni_. "Hmm," Hisao sighed, "You're quite talented for one so young, speak."

The AnBu placed a scroll on the ground and stepped back, going to one knee, "Danzo-sama sends you this message, Uzumaki Hisao-sama."

* * *

_The destruction of Uzushiogakure and the near total loss of the Uzumaki Clan was a terrible blow to Konoha during the waning years of the Second Ninja World War. The Third Hokage welcomed the few refugees that survived that time and people were moved to mourn what seemed to be the end of a once famous clan. That may have been premature._

_The Uzumaki was a clan of peerless F__ū__injutsu masters and they brought their trade secrets with them to Konoha. Within a year their service to the village by far outweighed the initial drain on the villages strained wartime resources. Publicly, they are known to provide and maintain the seals that allow for what many in Konoha believe to be a normal standard of village life. From the water purification seals that thwarted Suna's attempts to poison the local water table; the electrical power distribution, fuse and transformer seals; to even the simplest firecracker seal used during celebrations. It is widely known that the quality of Konoha's F__ū__injutsu is second to none. _

_Individuals of note are Uzumaki Hisao, clan leader; Uzumaki Hiroshi, 'Shishi' Hiroshi; Uzumaki Miho; Uzumaki Ken, 'Kenage' Ken; and Uzumaki Kushina – see Appendix D, Targets of Opportunity - . _

_Less widely known is the contribution that the Uzumaki Clan has made to the ninja community, although the sale of their services and seal tags to armories and weapon-smiths in Hi no Kuni is common knowledge, it is also reputed that the clan is heavily involved in village security and counterespionage. While it may seem surprising that a clan that has been a member for only a little more than ten years would be so deeply ingrained in a hidden village's secret affairs, one should note that the Uzumaki clan has been an ally of Konoha from a time well prior to the village's formation, as they are distant cousins to the Senju clan founders of Konoha._

_Further the link between the two clans has been strengthened with the union of Uzumaki Hiroshi and Senju Tsunade – see p44, Densetsu no Sannin - which may in time result in an heir, (Later Edit: Senju Naruto – see Appendix D, Targets of Opportunity -) ._

_An excerpt from Konoha, a Chunin Briefing Manual 6__th__ edition, Kumo._

* * *

**Chapter Three**

_**Nine months ago,**_

"God damnit, I'm a grown man, wearing a mask while running through a forest like the seat of my pants is on fire with masked ninja chasing after me. I'm way too old for the crap, God Damnit!" Hisao thought as he weaved silently through Konoha's forest canopy, seconds ahead of a team of AnBu.

Hisao's mission at the request of the Hokage was to investigate the seal placed on Yakumo Kurama and to determine if the Idō personality that he had been told about was suppressed within her. The Sandaime had explained to him what the girl's sensei had been forced to do and why Hisao was to act in secrecy. If indeed the girl was the cause of the recent fire, one that had killed Kurama Murakumo the Kurama clan leader and his wife, Uroko, then young girl's clan would be shamed; and a stronger seal would need to be applied.

But Hisao was irked by something other than being ordered to act in secret by the Hokage. As annoying as being forced to play tag with AnBu was, he found the entire way that the matter had been dealt with to be foolish. Ironically, Hisao wondered if the Sandaime was going senile. While sealing memories was something that could be easily done, altering a person's personality, in its entirety or just in part, was dangerous in the extreme. He'd explained to the Third that it would have been much healthier and less politically dangerous to have the girl seek counsel from a Yamanaka sworn to secrecy.

Even if Idō was an alter ego, sealing work of that nature was complex unless the one who did the sealing didn't mind risking the subject's sanity. Hisao hadn't been pleased to hear about Kurenai's two-point seal which she had learnt off of the Forbidden Scroll. To him, the fool girl might as well have taken the instructions off the side of a box of cornflakes. A much chastised Sandaime had authorized Hisao to do as he saw fit, so long as the matter was kept secret.

Which meant that Hisao had to get rid of his annoying pursuers first.

A trio of shuriken forced him to evade into a second group thrown in their shadow. An analytical side of the Uzumaki's personality gave the Sparrow-masked AnBu extra points for inventiveness as he whipped the cloak draped over his shoulders in a manner that deflected the weapons, even with the Rat-masked AnBu spurring them on at the last second with a sharp wind ninjutsu.

The sound of a spool of wire being unwound signaled Hisao's arrested movement. As his arms were strapped to his sides by the Cat and Horse-masked AnBu that had caught him between them. He grunted as they dragged him to the ground and put a sword to his neck. With one hand reaching for Hsao's mask, Neko AnBu questioned him sharply, "Who are you! What is your business here?"

To the AnBu, it seemed as though the man simply blinked out of existence. Then they were dodging for their lives, as each man was separated by an ogre-like summon that isolated them from each other. The creatures each wielded a large kanabo and with unbelievably swift movements incapacitated the four ninja. Nezumi vanished in a puff of smoke and the shadow clone's creator, hidden out of sight in the bushes, stifled a curse.

"Shit! Genjutsu?"

Any further musing ended when a hand tapped his shoulder. Nezumi was halfway turned around when a soft blue light heralded his descent in to unconsciousness.

Hisao released the half-rat seal that he had used to activate his technique _Shishou F__ū__in: Kizetsu F__ū__in_ and set about to remove all traces of the short battle from the forest and the memories of the AnBu he had defeated. Although he had worked carefully to conserve his chakra, moving the bodies of a group of well built adults, three men and one woman, was far from an easy task. And all the while, a detection seal on his body tingled, indicating that Sarutobi was watching through the viewing crystal.

"_God Damnit!" _Hisao thought in irritation as he finally made his way into the young Kurama Clan head's home.

Grumbling mentally, the old ninja stealthily entered the building. He quietly moved about in the dark, clinging to the roof and looking out for any danger. People seldom looked up and in the darkened house with unfamiliar surroundings he had the extra advantage of not needing to watch out for furniture. Still he the cloak on using it to break up his form in the dark and for the seals on it that hid him from detection by chakra sensor type ninja.

He needn't have bothered as the only person that he found on the way to the girl's room was a servant passed out on the floor. He paused briefly to examine the woman, seeing the fluttering of her eyeballs behind closed eyelids in the moonlight and listening to her breathing and the pace of her heart beat. Nodding to himself, he crept on toward his objective and found Yakumo sitting in the middle of her bedroom with the drapes closed, painting…

In the dark…

It was with a feeling of almost resigned weariness that he watched as horns grew from her heads silhouette and a face with glowing eyes grew out of the back of the girls head. For some odd reason he almost expected the growling voice that passed from the girls lips, "You bastard! So that damned Hokage sent an assassin to us, eh!" Several thick chains snaked around his body, tightened almost painfully and lifted Hisao into the air. "Die," The monster said as several jagged shards of metal materialized before him.

Sighing, Hisao felt the seal that he had applied to his body after seeing the unconscious servant finally unravel the last of the multiple layers of genjutsu that had been woven over him. His left hand swept up, catching a hold of a thin hand that strained to drive a paint trowel into his neck. Quickly he twisted Yakumo's hand into a textbook wrist lock and forced her to the ground. She cried out in the same growling voice, only sounding much less demonic as the seal Hisao applied to himself, struggled to filter out the genjutsu trying to set into of him.

For this reason Hisao was hardly gentle when he pinned the girl to the floor under him. Although he felt Yakumo's wrist begin to give way under his knee, he didn't let up because he needed to keep the girl's hands separate. Not that that stopped her from trying to beguile him with illusions, as one flickering image of a jabbing push dagger and the sense that he'd been blinded proved, but the pain he inflicted distracted the girl and kept her illusions from settling in to the degree that they became real to his mind.

Using his now freed hands Hisao's fingers blurred through a set of hand seals that was well familiar to him.

"_Ousu Buta, Inu, Tori, Saru, O-hitsuji,"_ He bit his thumb, _"Kuchiyose no jutsu!"_

A long-eared hare, wearing a necklace inscribed with the kanji 'Tsuki' appeared on Yakumo's chest. "Chang!" Hisao hissed. "I need the Temaneki no Kagami!" The hare's ears twitched as she said, "Hai!" The summoned animal performed a henge with a cute 'Ka-ya!' and before Yakumo's face was a highly polished mirror, floating in the air. Hisao held on until the girl stopped struggling and he watched as she lay there, entranced by the enchanted mirror. Careful not to look into the Temaneki no Kagami himself, he moved to sit cross-legged at the girl's head.

Hisao placed his left fist into the crook between his right hand's thumb and forefinger. His right hand held onto the knuckles of the left as Hisao angled the back of his left fist so that it was reflected in the mirror without obstructing Yakumo's sight.

"Hn!" He grunted, and the kanji for Zen appeared in the back of his fist, glowing. A matching symbol appeared on Yakumo's brow. Closing his eyes, Hisao began to meditate.

His soul-self appeared within Yakumo's mind. The Kagami no Tameneki's ability allowed him to bypass many of the Idō being's mental barriers and directly access Yakumo's sleeping, dominant personality. He found her cowering behind a wall of paintings shivering and crying as various voices that he didn't recognize belittled her, calling her a failure, hissing that she was useless, a waste of time, pathetic…

At this point Hisao could have easily replaced Kurenai's seal with a new one, one that did everything that the Hokage wanted without risking the girl's sanity or revealing to her what her alternate personality had done. But watching Yakumo's soul-self, desperately clutch her knees as she sobbed triggered an old memory, more than twenty years past, of another little girl. Without thinking any further on the matter, he decided to follow the Sandaime's advice and do as he saw fit.

"God Damnit, I'm getting too old for this! _Shishou F__ū__in: Jiz__ō __no Kashaya__!_"

Yakumo sobbed as she dreamed, gritting her teeth as the nightmare, a familiar one, progressed. Now her dead father would appear and condemn her for her weakness, unable to even graduate as a shinobi. Whoever heard of a shinobi clan leader who was unable to even become a genin?

But the expected voice did not materialize; instead a hairy fist crashed down on her head and gave her a noogie until she wailed. She grabbed the top of her head and turned her tear-stained face to look at the perpetrator...

"Hiiieeeeee!"

Standing there, dressed in a monk's robes was an old man, bearded and mustachioed with a shaven head. He was glaring at her, holding up his smoking knuckles.

"Wha-" She gasped out.

"GUTS!" The man bellowed, and Yakumo truly thought that she was going insane,

"What's that…" She tried to say.

"GUTS!" The monk yelled at her, she was registering that this nightmare was the freakiest one yet.

"Wai-" Yakumo tried as she thought to herself,_ "Did I… Did I eat something weird?"_

"GUTSGUTSGUTS!" Her dream antagonist bellowed.

"I don't know what that even means!" She shrieked.

"You need **GUTS!**" The monk roared, mercilessly grabbing her hair and swinging her around to face Idō that had crept up on them. The moment that the monk grabbed her, it seemed as if Yakumo had vanished from Idō's sight and the Id beast swung its head around wildly.

Yakumo gasped upon seeing it and grasped the monk's robes in fear. "What is that?"

"That is Yami Yakumo!" The monk replied, "The darkness within your heart, all of the doubts and self recriminations that you have piled onto yourself is now seeking to act out through your powers. All of your grudges and resentments have generated enough energy to summon a minor demon to your heart, feeding on your power and weakening both your body and mind!"

Yakumo's eyes widened as the wall of paintings that had faced outward turned inward. She started as Idō touched one picture in particular. "This!" She cried brokenly in realization, "It was me! I did this!"

It was a painting she had drawn while under the influence of the Id beast. In it her mother and father clutched each other as they were trapped in a fire. Now the Hokage's words to her mentor made sense and Yakumo sagged in despair at the realization. The Idō was not able to perceive Yakumo while she was hidden behind Hisao's barrier but it still felt the surge in power caused by the girl's mental collapse.

"Yes!" The creature said, "Yes, this is our power! The power even a Hokage fears! You weak pathetic girl! Let me show them, all of them who mock you, all of them who call us weak, all of them who would deny us! LET US SHOW THEM OUR POWER!" It screamed.

Yakumo kneeled sobbing… until a fist crashed into the crown of her skull to the tune of…

"**GUTS!**"

"Waaaah!"

She tried to back away, but the monk palmed the back of her head and wouldn't let the frightened girl escape him. Hidden inside the construct Hisao nervously licked his lips at the risk he was taking but stubbornly continued.

"Well little girl?" The monk said, "Are you just going to sit there and cry? Like the star actor in your own play?" He said mockingly.

"What… the Hell… do you _WANT_ from me!" Yakumo screamed in frustration at the monk's confrontational attitude.

"GUTS! Show me Guts!" The disguised Hisao answered. "I can banish the demon, but unless you face your fears instead of hiding away crying it'll just come back again!" The monk waved at the montage of pictures displaying several disastrous events that had injured people around her, including her sensei, Yuhei Kurenai. "If you don't even have the GUTS to try, how do you expect to become a ninja?" The monk asked, "This is the hurdle on the path to your dreams! All you need is **GUTS!**"

"I… I don't know if I can do it on my own… I'm crazy." She said quietly.

"Who said you were alone!" The monk bellowed into her ear. "Being insane is a blessing, not a curse, just listen to the positive voices in your mind! GUTS, GUTS, GUTS, GUTS, GUST, GUTS, GUTS, GUTS, GUTS, GUUUUUTSSSUUU!"

Yakumo, didn't really have anything to say to that, she just went along with it and tried not to think too hard upon what it meant for the state of her mental wellbeing. Bravely, she stepped from under the monk's kashaya and confronted Idō. The creature immediately turned to her and purred, "Good, there you are, now go back to sleep so I can kill that meddling old man." Rusted chains began to wrap around Yakumo as the voices from before grew louder.

Yakumo shook her head and said, "GUTS!"

Idō looked at her oddly, "Err, what?"

"I'm not going to back away and hide from my failures," The girl said, "I'm not going to hide from my fears," She said louder, "I want to become a shinobi of the Leaf and nothing, not even the voices in my head, is going to stop me!" She finished with a scream, "GUTS!"

"You foolish girl!" The demon growled and started advancing on her.

Hisao appeared behind Yakumo as she kept screaming the word guts and his hands flashed through a series of hand seals. _Nitten F__ū__in Kai! _then,_ Shishou F__ū__in: Ry__ō__kai Mandara!_

The Idō screamed as both Hisao's technique and Yakumo's growing confidence began to sap its strength. It swiftly began to lose its demonic appearance and turned transparent. Slowly, what remained of it was absorbed by Yakumo.

In the physical world Hisao grimly looked at a mass of darkness chakra trapped within a small barrier that hovered over Yakumo's head. Internally he frowned in thought. "Someone sealed a trace amount of the Kyuubi's chakra into this girl in order to strengthen her? This is pure yin chakra! Was it taken before or after the Yondaime sealed it into Naruto?"

That time period left an opening for just a few people as Hisao had been recalled from attending to Hiroshi's body and Tsunade's grief in order to reinforce the seal on Naruto for the shinobi council's peace of mind. Until then, there were only two people that Hisao knew of with the clearance and ability do something like this while Naruto was under an extremely paranoid AnBu guard and get away with it.

Mitokado Homura and Shimura Danzō…

"Chang!" He said gesturing at the yin chakra, "Get rid of it!"

The Mirror-Usagi chimed, "Hai-hai, Hisao-chan!" And with a puff of smoke Chang transformed into a wand-like Shakujō, brightly she chanted, "Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin, retsu, zai, zen. **Akuryou Taisan!**"

The barrier dispersed at Hisao's command and the darkness chakra was sucked into the vortex that had opened up in the center of the Shakujō-Usagi's ring. "Youma defeated! The hare chirped as it changed back. Chang did a little skip hop in celebration. Peace and Love wins the day again! Kyu!"

Hisao ignored his long-time companion's antics, instead grumbling, "At least one of us is feeling sprightly, I've sat for so long my ass has fallen asleep, God Damnit!"

_Since that time Hisao had kept track of all his dealings with both men. Danzō worried him more._

On a brighter note, Hisao had a fun time looking in on Yakumo's interview with the Sandaime the next day. He'd already informed the man about his findings and what steps he had taken to aid the girl, leaving it to the medical corps to clear the Yakumo girl for training. The girl now wanted training both from her old sensei and a taijutsu instructor. When Kurenai had tried dissuading the girl from continuing, demanding to know just why she thought she could succeed the answer had been loud enough to smother Hisao's guffaw.

"**GUTS!**" Yakumo bellowed.

"Wha" Kurenai started.

"GUTS!" The girl yelled again! Sarutobi covered his face with his hat.

"What do you…" The chunin managed to interject a little faster.

"All I need is guts, I'm going to be the greatest ninja I can, and I will with or without your help Kurenai-sensei, though I'd prefer to have your help. Even so, the old man in my head agrees! All I need to succeed is the guts to try!" She said challengingly

Kurenai blinked, nonplussed, "The _what_ in your head?"

Sarutobi was shaking with suppressed mirth behind her.

* * *

Now, almost a year later, Hisao was taking his time getting back to the old Senju estate; the place where the now joined Uzumaki-Senju clan lived at within Konoha. It was now twenty-nine years since he'd led his faction of Uzushiogakure's survivors into Hi no Kuni. The Second Nija War was well in progress by then and even if the Uzumaki weren't so closely tied to the Senju Clan and Konoha, the chance to gain access to some of the more complex fūin his family had created was well worth the expense of taking in the refugees.

It had been a wise investment. Although the Uzumaki were at the time primarily comprised of children under the age of ten Hisao's pride wouldn't stand a second of being beholden to his cousin's charity. After many services and sacrifices on behalf of himself and his family, the Uzumaki-Senju clan played an important role in village life and thusly held prestige appropriate to their efforts.

All members were trained in fuinjutsu to some degree, they were producers of seal-work goods, from the things used in everyday civilian life like closed circuit television sets, radios, circuit boxes and building fire protections; to the things used in shinobi life, like the seals used in exploding tags, prisoner restraints, storage scrolls, and high level protections on crucial buildings; all of these things held the Uzumaki spiral interposed over the Senju branches as a seal of approval.

His great-grandchildren worked with the Kekkai-han, protecting the village from intruders, they opened a store that sold high quality ofuda, sealing tags and specialty fūin scrolls like Tsunade's trauma pack that provided a burst of regenerative chakra that oftrn helped save lives. They did support work for the Anbu, research for the R&D division, created iryoujutsu fūin for the hospital and when called on in the past had laid down their lives during not only the Second and Third Shinobi Wars but in all the major and minor conflicts to flare up since then.

As it was, Hisao should have been satisfied with his life, all his female descendants were happily married and the males were well known and gallant men but he found it hard to lay down his burdens. He walked into the compound and past the clan leader's house, now empty save for the servants. The reason for his discontent lay within the family shrine that they had built to allow the Uzumaki and Senju retainers and clansmen to honor their dead.

"_God Damnit…" _Hshio thought to himself. _"Children shouldn't die before their parents!Let alone great-grandchildren, god damnit!"_

Uzumaki Hiroshi

Uzumaki Kushina

Namikaze Minato

Senju Nawaki

Their names and others were remembered within the walls of that shrine, and remembering that made Hisao feel old...

"_God Damnit!" _

He nodded at one of the Senju clan descendents, an orphan who had been returned to the compound, and the girl, Kitsuki Mie, bowed to him before going back to her chores attending the shrine. Hisao sighed as he made his way further down to where his own work place was located. He taught sealing in the dojo adjacent to Tsunade's home and spent his time in the village tending to, and dozing off lazily at, the Fūin store that his clan maintained.

In his private workspace, he and a few trusted seal masters worked on top secret projects commissioned by the village. It was to this place that Hisao went after reading Danzō's message asking for an update on a special project the older man had been working on. Hisao was irritated at the other's impatience, although he too was eager to see the results of their project, though Hisao was certain that it was for a much different reason than Danzō's.

Sealing himself inside a well lit and sterile room, he began to take out his hidden notes, _F__ū__in Enhancement of Chakra Stimulated, Lateral Gene Transfers_.

* * *

Tsunade sighed, "Come on Shizune! We're going to be late!"

The younger dark haired woman, blushed as she backed away from Tenzō, Naruto's disguised AnBu bodyguard and personal instructor.

"You forgot to kiss your lover goodbye," She taunted mildly, "I can at least wait for you to get that over with." Her voice was deliberately pitched so that 'Yamato' heard her and she grinned at the sound of the other man stumbling into a tree.

Red faced, her apprentice of many years, grabbed her arm whining, "Tsunade-sama!"

"Heh, hm, hm!" Tsunade chuckled to herself. At times it was easy to forget that the younger woman was a seasoned jounin and an accomplished medical ninja in her own right. Shizune had been at first a tie to her dead lover Dan, one that her late husband Uzumaki Hiroshi had gracefully accepted about her as he had done with many of her other quirks and flaws. Shizune was also proof of concept that Tsunade's plan for establishing an Iryou-ninja program for integrating field medics into standard teams could work.

In the years since Shizune had completed her training she had almost become as legendary among her generation of shinobi as Tsunade herself, gaining the moniker Kouchou no Shizune. It was if anything proof positive of the viability of the Sannin's plan and Tsunade had since then trained several apprentices from the Uzumaki-Senju Clan's foster program.

Unfortunately time and circumstances hadn't been in her favor, as her luck would have it the lack of competent ninja during and after the Second and Third Shinobi Wars had prompted the Sandaime and his advisors to ignore her, by then, well known yearly petition for an established training program. This was always due to the constraints caused by the time it took to complete her proposed training regime. Although the Hokage and Elders did, carefully to avoid having a table thrown at them again, commend her for taking the initiative to conduct such a program using her own resources and people. Needless to say, several of the Uzumaki and Senju retainers were now accomplished Iryou-ninja in their own right, even a disgruntled Hisao.

Entering the Hospital, Tsunade nodded as several of the doctors and nurses bowed to her when she passed them on her way to sign in. Her primary jobs was to oversee the medical research undertaken by the hospital and to that end was assisted by Shizune and the hospital's Assistant Director Yakushi Nobuyuki, a former AnBu field medic like herself. Tsunade made her way over to the entrance of the Lab in a guarded wing of the hospital, the security was more for the lectures given to the hunter-ninja twice a week and the work done by the corpse recovery squad than her research which she guarded using seals taught to her by Hisao. On her way, she met and spoke to Nobuyuki, authorizing his son Kabuto for advanced iryou ninjutsu classes.

* * *

_Tsunade hadn't always been able to joke about love. If asked, she would have claimed to 'break even' as far as such things were concerned. In her life she had experienced times of great joy and sorrow. The coming of the Uzumaki Clan to Konoha had happened around her seventeenth birthday. Her Grandmother Uzumaki Mito lived in the old clan compound built partially into the mountains below the carving of the Shodaime. Quickly they had extended the estate into the forests and perhaps feeling a bit miffed by having a group of strangers, even if they were distant cousins, suddenly move into the place like they owned it had prompted her to delay her plans of moving into a much smaller apartment with her brother, Nawaki._

_Her decision in turn had prompted several of the families that served as retainers of the clan to remain at the compound, their numbers actually increased somewhat to match the 'foreign invaders'. The Uzumaki Clan didn't at all act like a group of refugees, even with their small number of active ninja, fourteen out of twenty adults and eleven children; they all still talked big, especially the bratty Kushina. Within the year, they had more than made up for any ruffled feathers with the sheer level of contribution to the workings of Konoha._

_By the time Mito-obaa-sama had passed away, the Uzumaki Clan was sponsoring their own foster program for the children of ninja who had perished while on a mission. Those children who showed promise within the academy program were usually adopted into the clan by the time they graduated, receiving the full support of the Uzumaki Clan in their training. Perhaps the most notable of these children was Namikaze Minato whose grandparents were Senju Clan retainers and distant cousins, as were many families in the Village._

_The Senju Clan after the founding of the village had peacefully dispersed into a large number of loosely connected shinobi and civilian families with only a few who had sworn to do so staying on as retainers of the main family. Although this tactic seemed to diffuse the power of the clan itself, Tsunade estimated the number of her distant relatives to be somewhere around a thousand individuals, perhaps twice as many if the civilian families in the environs of Konoha were counted. _

_The Senju clan seemed to be entering a time of resurgence. Then Nawaki died. Uzumaki or Senju the entire family closed ranks with her in her time of grief and were patient with her newer, more abrasive personality, although with Hisao there they were hardly strangers to abrasive personalities to begin with. _

_Tsunade's second time of joy was the one year spent with her lover Dan, who understood her sorrows and shared her brother's dream of becoming Hokage. Like Nawaki she had given him the Shodaime's necklace as a sign of her belief in him. Like Nawaki she lost him. This time he died in her arms, and thus, Tsunade's second time of sorrow began._

_Her loss that time left her a bitter wreck of a woman with a crippling phobia for blood. Unexpectedly, salvation for her came in the form of Uzumaki Hiroshi, a soft-spoken man among a sea of big personalities. They called him Shishi Hiroshi for his use of several variations of the Shishi Heik__ō __no F__ū__in. A jounin of perhaps lesser renown though not for lack of skill, he quietly stayed with her during those dark days when she pushed everyone, even Jiraiya away. _

_The first time she took a leave of absence and tried to depart from the village with a young Shizune, Hiroshi had waylaid them with placid conversation and treats for Tonton. Ever afterward he had shown that he too could be a stubborn man. After a month of delays, Shizune had shyly told her that it was okay to fall in love, that her uncle what not only understand but want her to be happy. The girl Tsunade cared for as a daughter had seen something that she herself had tried to ignore._

_Tsunade's third time of joy began. Where her love for Dan had been a thrilling thing of passion and shared understanding. Her love for Hiroshi was like a rock sitting firmly within a stream, unperturbed by any other concerns. Tsunade quite firmly believed that Uzumaki Hiroshi was the last man she would ever love. _

_The time of the Fourth Hokage came and with it, new life, at thirty years old, Tsunade prepared to give her husband a son. _

'_Their peaceful conversation was disrupted by a horrendous howl that rent the air. He left her to join the Kekkai-han running straight toward where the Kyuubi had breached the village. There was another howl, then a roar that shook the village, literally. Pieces of buildings, people and entire houses were thrown high into the air. As the sickening wave of energy passed over her she felt a twinge of pain, almost as if the vile power was seeking her out and targeting her specifically. She ignored the feeling, putting her energy into preserving the hospital and environs. She caught a broken stone annex before it could crash down on a running mother and daughter and had to quickly use it to shield them and several others from the spray of shrapnel that followed in its wake. _

_Then the worse happened, the Biju's power gathered and she hurriedly ordered the people behind her into the hospital as a pitch black sphere of energy flew overhead. Had they been directly under it the people with her would have perished; as it was they were all thrown violently to the grown by the shockwaves caused by the Imari's passage through the air. The Kyuubi's youki tugged at her flesh insistently and finally something gave way. She couldn't ignore the pain when it did come. The Yondaime's counter to the Nine-tail's attack and the beast's subsequent removal from the village went ignored. Hiroshi's death due to chakra exhaustion while saving several ninja in the path of the blast passed unknown at the time. _

_All she knew was pain as she struggled against her body in vain, trapped beneath the ruins of the annex, "It's too early, it's too early! It's too early!" She was twenty-four weeks pregnant at the time. Tsunade's third time of sorrow began.'_

_In the depths of her depression and the darkness of her heart, Tsunade contemplated suicide. She could only cry softly in her room as her hands clasped together around aching breasts, holding the Shodaime's gift to Mito in her hands, peering at it. It seemed that this time the jewel would kill her and she waited for that time eagerly. Hisao came and spoke to her, told her of Kushina's passing, spoke to her of what it felt like to lose a child for he had lost many; and grand children; and great-grandchildren. She didn't listen to him, nothing could replace her loss._

_Then Naruto was brought to her, Hisao laid the child in her shocked arms and told her the child was hungry. Stunned, she didn't stop the child from finding her nipple through the cloth of her yukata. Shakily and in shock she let the boy feed. Then she moved the cloth covering her other breast and shifted him to there._

_And thus, Tsunade's fourth time of joy began. She devoted her life to her son and somewhat fatalistically gave him her necklace before even his graduation from the academy. She bet to herself that her son would die before her, and she set herself to training herself, her family, her students and her child, creating an Ijutsu stream within the Uzumaki foster program; and developing several Iryou F__ū__in scrolls and techniques that cemented her place in shinobi legend._

_Suffice to say, she lost her bet._

_Densetsu no Sannin, Senju Tsunade the Namekuji Sennin – Private writings of Senju Shizune _

* * *

**AN: So what do you do when you have a good idea that won't go away? I wrote these three chapters in my free time and was shocked to realize just how much it was. It draws inspiration in part from several well written fics that are out there, although like always I try to be as original as I can with a fanfiction. For those who dislike a huge influx of OC's never fear, their presence is at best peripheral to the story though their influence is not, I won't spoil chapter four but it's going to be kind of obvious what effect the OC's are having on several cannon characters. When writing this, I create situations like 'so this is what happend in cannon, what if somebody who can do _this_ was there?' or 'If person A does this, what would person B do while still being true to cannon'. **

**I'm also working on developing some sense of suspense. Naruto isn't a complete goof ball as some fics, albeit rather funny ones, portray; nor is he immediately going to come rushing out the gate a badass, but he's at least as smart as Kiba and he's been made to hold back some of his best skills so the potential is there. As For the rest, well read and review and maybe we'll see. TTFN. **

* * *

**Omake:**

The Sacred scroll of the Uzumaki Clan, claimed and protected by the sweat and blood of generations. It was the personal summoning scroll of the Rokudo Sennin himself and Hisao was going to be the next in a long line of Uzumaki men to sign it!

The twelve year old carefully inked his name in blood and pressed his fingers to the paper. He shivered as he looked to the head of the scroll where he could just barely make out the faded script of the Father of Ninjutsu.

"_Ousu Buta, Inu, Tori, Saru, O-hitsuji,"_ He bit his thumb, _"Kuchiyose no jutsu!"_

(Opening OST of Sailor Moon begins playing...)

Minutes Later...

"Whadya mean it's not manly?"

Hisao turned red at his grandfather's bellow and Mito's snickering in the background.

"She tried to put me in a frick'n miniskirt!"

"It's a short yukata!"

"And put on makeup!"

"It's face paint!"

"And wear stiletto heels!"

"It's extreme balance training!"

"And that stupid speech about love!"

"Boy! That was written by the son of the Rokudo Sennin! And it'll be good enough for ye!"

"I don't wanna!"

"Don't make me get my belt!"

"And the twirly thing with the naginata..." Hisao whined.

His grandfather paused, "Wait, you haven't tried it yet? Ask Chang Yu to show you the Death Reborn Revolution!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: This is a Naruto fanfiction Naruto is the original work of the author Masashi Kishimoto. **

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* * *

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**Chapter Four**

* * *

Iruka stood before Memorial Stone and clapped his hands twice. The offering of incense that he'd left before the stone smoked lightly. As he finished the monthly ritual and turned to go he said, "I've got to get to work Mom; I'll be off early today before noon so tell Dad I'll swing by before he leaves for Tea Country."

The fortyish woman beside Iruka smiled gently, "I'll let your father know, and have something ready for lunch, you don't eat nearly well enough since you moved out. I don't know why you don't just stay with us; you come over every day anyway…"

Blushing, Iruka rubbed the back of his head as he looked away, not noticing his mother's knowing look.

The two ninja thought simultaneously:

'_I can't possibly tell her I'm dating Anko!'/ 'I wonder when he'll introduce us to that Mitarashi girl?'_

"Anyway I'll see you later!" The chunin said as he headed in the direction of Konoha's shinobi academy.

"Be seeing you son!" The older woman replied. Then she turned toward the memorial stone and bowed.

As the retired kunoichi walked away from the forested glade with a slight limp but steady pace, she thought.

"_Hiroshi-sama, thank you"'_

* * *

Tree!

-_SWISH_-

"_Oh…"_

Okay, so jumping off of a cliff wasn't one of his brightest ideas, even it wasn't really that steep of a cliff… initially.

Naruto's first thought upon clearing the edge of the cliff proper was how small everything looked from up high. That train of thought led him to the realization of just how high up he truly was and of course, inevitably, the fact that the he was currently plummeting down toward a steadily expanding pavement.

Rock!

-_SWIP_-

The pupils of blue eyes shrunk to pinpricks as a new set of obstacles were revealed.

Tree! Thorn bush! Boulder! Monkey!

-_SWISH_-

-_SWOOSH_-

-_SWIP_-

"Eek! Damned hooligan!" The startled monkey railed at the screaming blur that was Naruto.

Having been a victim of his mother's various health kicks at one time or another, Naruto had been exposed to nearly every vaccine and health supplement that his mother found beneficial. These treatments helped during his bad periods even if they usually tasted horrible. In the end he'd begged Shizune-nee to teach him her iron belly technique at the age of five just to handle his O-kaa-san's weekly health drink. The technique had the side effect of dulling his sense of taste temporarily whenever he used it and was only partially successful for dealing with the nausea caused by imbibing whatever potion he'd be fed for the week.

Bird!

-_SWQUARK_-

On the plus side his proficiency with the Tetsu no Hara had encouraged Shizune to teach him other delightful skills, like how to spit poisoned senbon from his mout-

"_Tree! Tree!"_

-_SWISHSWOOSH_-

His heart hammered wildly as he tried again to focus just the right amount of chakra to his feet and hands to allow him to grip the rock face of behind and below and failed, continuing his half-controlled slide down the steep rocky surface.

-Oh sh-

Naruto was a naturally effusive child, given to expressing himself in an unrestrained manner. This was partially due to his nature and in part due to a deep desire to step out of his family, the Senju-Uzumaki Gouzoku, deep and long shadow.

-ite!-

Unfortunately his chakra control wasn't up to the tasks of might and skill that he was often witness to from his own clansmen and women. Add that he had too much energy to patiently sit through lessons at home; and, as Hisao had correctly pointed out, given to reckless acts, '_like jumping off a cliff!_' Naruto was often his own worst enemy, point in case being that he was currently skidding down the side of the Hokage Mountain because it was something that he'd once seen someone do... in a manga.

And so he skated along, periodically unleashing frantic bursts of energy from his legs in order to avoid splattering on the side of the odd, enterprising plant growing out of the shadow of the Shodaime's chin. As rambunctious as he was Naruto quite often found himself being chased down by some family retainer or another and had become proficient at escape and evasion, even from his mother. Combined with his lessons with Yamato-nii he should have been well ahead of his peers.

Unfortunately; for a long time, it had only been in fuinjutsu that he truly surpassed others, even his fellow junior Uzumaki disciples. Too bored to learn history beyond what dealt with the his family, and even then too frustrated at being compared to his honored ancestors, he had rarely applied himself to his fullest capabilities. He eagerly struggled to prove himself physically capable of learning how to fight from his mother but it usually took mere weeks before the positive effects of whatever chakra control technique he mastered began to fade. To make matters worse, Naruto's health regularly careened from superhuman to pathetically ill, costing him time at the academy and even briefly placing his future as a ninja in question.

Through it all Naruto still persevered. Mentally, his family retainers were determined that the Senju Heir not be a dunce even if they resorted to tying him down (this also provided several impromptu lessons on shibari). Physically, Naruto was taught a series of exercises in dynamic movement that Yamato-nii had eventually come up with for him. After seeing Naruto's predicament, his tutor decided on a form of training that combined basic shinobi gymnastics with basic tree-walking training. It was brutally effective at helping him to recover from his bouts of illness, so much so that his class standing had improved from dead last to fourteenth place in taijutsu within a week of beginning the training. His mother even took part, designing a series of ever-shifting obstacle courses that he was to run through at high speed; using his chakra to grip and grab fleeting handholds that shifted and tried to clutch at _him_.

Compared to that, bounding down the hill should have been easy, which was why he had done so in the first place. But it seemed like his chakra control was on the fritz again, with it in such a state he just couldn't dealt with the speed that he'd gained travelling down such a steep surface, not with such weak traction, barely enough to avoid sending him screaming into the air at the first misstep.

Still years of training paid off as his body instinctively made do with what little it had to work with. Gloved hands, glowing with a haze of blue chakra gripped to a sturdier tree trunk along the way. He bled off momentum as he spun around, leaving groves in the bark. It also shot him out over the village and now he bounded then soared over a pair of houses in an orange flash so fleeting that the only proof that he'd even been there was a four foot wide patch of cracked tiles and a trailing,

"_SOOOOOOOORREEEeeeeee!" _

He winced as he felt even more tiles crack under his feet and waved sheepishly at the house's owner, evidently a retired kunoichi of some skill, who shook her fist at him with half-hearted annoyance. He could already tell that he'd be going back there later to fix the damage. He was beginning to really regret jumping off that cliff in spite of the massive adrenaline surge brought about by his impromptu shortcut and the sheer awesomeness of his recovery. He briefly wondered what his grandfather must be thinking, seeing him do something so reckless after having complimented him on his progress as a ninja.

-Wire! Wire!-

And he decided that he didn't want to know as a telephone line flashed by so fast and invisible that he'd almost missed it, just barely ducking under before the line lopped off his head. This dangerous exercise was the price that he gladly paid in his desperate attempt to tame his monstrously large, even by the standards of his clan, chakra.

He'd always had chakra control problems and during the summer holiday it had again been the focus of Yamato-nii's training. The week after he had successfully completed one of his nii-san's harder obstacle courses had been a blast with his irrepressible energy causing him to indulge his impulses and run around, climbing roof-tops, exploring and generally making a nuisance of himself as he desperately tried to refine the skill in his spare time while having fun.

Although he hadn't lacked much in the way of childhood companions, not with the many families and apprentices living at the Senju compound, Naruto was rarely ever allowed off the premises without adult supervision for long. So when the neighbors started to… well not complain, but _talk_ about his wild antics. Word had quickly gotten to his mother that he was sneaking out on his own and who then decided that all that extra energy was better spent doing something constructive.

At first he had been excited to be training with a real ninja, Yamato-nii didn't count, and he'd practically been raised on stories of his mother's prowess so initially the evasion training had seemed like fun; up until one of those leather-bound cork balls had actually hit him. He'd bruised a rib and the force of the impact had flipped him through the air. To make matters worse, later a completely unsympathetic Shizune had explained that the real exercise was conducted with medicine balls and while the first part of his training was dodging attacks, eventually his mother fully expected him to _catch them_.

It was a strange thing that Naruto had then discovered about his mother Tsunade. In spite of her almost obsessive efforts to keep him from harm, she was completely willing to risk crippling him if it meant that he would be strong enough to survive whatever the world threw at him. Given that was her philosophy, it meant that from then on, Naruto's evasion training had incorporated not just medicine balls, but eventually boulders of various sizes; ranging from flint shards thrown with enough force to imbed into flesh, to man sized slate rocks.

Trees were tossed at him, weapons of every description; all while Tsunade had off-duty clansmen tossing caltrops like popcorn. After he learned Kawarimi no Jutsu in school they'd graduated to avoiding being dosed by the mild teargas from sairuidan traps and yes, playing catch. Although fortunately his mother had back pedaled after the third time he'd broken his arm and gone back to simply dosing him with various types of poisons from traps.

The intensity of that three month long training exercise had waned with the beginning of the new school term. Still, Naruto continued with his own training and it would have been an understatement to say that Naruto's rise from the bottom of the pack in taijutsu was anything less than meteoric. For the rest of his time at the academy, he had held the top spot in hand to hand combat even with contenders like Uchiha Sasuke, Inuzuka Kiba and Akimichi Chouji.

Unfortunately it looked like no amount of training could help him in improving his skill with genjutsu. In spite of his family's best efforts it seemed to Naruto as though his chakra control took two steps back for every step forward that he made in training. It was a situation that had hounded him through his academy years and was the reason why he flunked genjutsu casting and detection; and why his bunshin, when they were created at all, looked like Hisao and Shizune after eating a Tsunade brand dinner.

It was only the rigorous training he kept up and exercises like his current helter-skelter run through the village that had allowed him to graduate in his first try. Now though, he had other concerns, the roof of the Academy was in sight and he was still going too fast!

"Hmm, how to stop myself from becoming a bloody smear on the side of the academy wall…"

He was drawing a blank. Finally, in a fit of desperation as he cleared the wall still moving at a, for him, insane speed. He spread is arms and legs out wide in an attempt to increase wind resistance, willingly trading the unstable form for a chance to slow his body down. The wind billowed through his hair and filled in his jacket. Actually the force of the wind nearly pulled the garment right off of him, forcing it open and causing Naruto to hook his arms into the sleeves of his impromptu parachute.

His body acting out of instinct, he pivoted his legs about his hips, jerking himself parallel to the ground. With instinct alone he adjusted his somewhat uncontrolled flight to take him through the third floor academy window. He tucked himself into a ball, counted two rotations, then sensing himself about to hit the ground his hand blurred out. Using his chakra, he stuck to the ground briefly enough to flip himself onto his feet but not risk snapping his wrist. Now upright, he gathered chakra to his feet, brute forcing a grip to eliminate the last of his momentum in a sideways slide across the floor coming to a stop close to the door of the classroom with the smell of burning rubber left in his wake.

He knelt there for a second, leaving his fellow ninja graduates gaping at him. Some of his female classmates were blushing at his open jacket, flushed face and heaving chest. Not all of those blushing at the sight were girls though but still he couldn't help feel a little smug…

Then a heavy fist smacked down on the crown of his skull.

"Use the door next time! They're there for a reason, you idiot! Now settle down!" Iruka roared.

Naruto just twitched on the floor; as it would so happen, a few days travel away from Konoha, a white-haired ninja was pouting morosely from much the same position as a hostess club manager tried to fish him out the garden koi-pond, _"Why do people keep ruining my entrances!"_

**

* * *

**

**Tsunade**

_We, do terrible things to the people we love._

_We can do terrible, terrible things to the people we love._

_If only to protect them…_

_For Tsunade it was not a happy revelation when ten months after his birth, she learned of the 50,000 ryo bounty on her newborn son's head. It enraged her even more when she considered the usual suspects that may have placed it. A foreign village, Kumo or Kiri? Perhaps the mysterious assailant identified by the survivors of the Kyuubi's initial attacks, lives bought at the cost of her husband. Did Chiyo of the Sand dare? Or was it her fallen teammate Orochimaru, so recently driven out of the village after having experimented on fellow Konoha nin, even her kin; and if the proof left behind was to be believed the man had held a more than passing interest in her son's medical records._

_If she could, Tsunade would have taken on the world to keep her son safe. Over protests from Hisao she had tried just that, keeping her Naruto-chan all but imprisoned at the clan compound. She would not hear of ninja training, despite carefully phrased demands that such potential should be better managed. Tsunade stubbornly held onto the belief that she could keep her son safe, up until the moment when all such illusions fled her._

_Naruto as a toddler was walking with his nanny near the Clan's reflection pool when a Kiri missing-nin, tried to carry out an assassination of her child._

_Her sweet, sweet child…_

_The boy's survival was merely a result of the vagaries of fate, and in the aftermath of the revelation that someone had penetrated the clan's barriers Tsunade found herself with yet another secret about her son, one she believed she had cursed him with, that would hound him for as long as he lived if others were to learn of it._

_Hopelessly she came to the conclusion that Hisao, Jiraiya and the Sandaime had all been trying to convince her of._

_She couldn't protect Naruto forever._

_If her son was to live, he needed to be a ninja._

_If her son was to survive the life of a ninja he needed every shred of power that she could give him._

_So Tsunade, out of love, did a very terrible thing._

* * *

**Chapter Five**

* * *

Iruka huffed as he stood before the graduating class, inwardly suppressing a smile. He'd known enough of the young Senju's antics to make an educated guess of what he'd been doing before class began when he'd seen Naruto come in through the window. He couldn't condone showboating though and it was for the best if he did what little he could to nip the problem in the bud. Even if from today onward his former students were no longer his responsibility and were now proud shinobi of the leaf. He'd give his all to help his fellow ninja and protect them to the best of his ability to the very end, if need be. That was the nindo he'd inadvertently inherited on _that_ day.

Even though Iruka taught his students without bias, it was inevitable that there would be some children whose progress he noted. Obviously the first to come to mind was the most accomplished of the graduating year, Uchiha Sasuke. Talented in all areas of the ninja arts taught in the academy, the dark-haired boy sitting at the window seat of the third row was a model student. Iruka had no complaints with Sasuke's work, both during his final year and in the exams. Sasuke was placed first among his peers in ninjutsu, genjutsu and practical fieldwork.

He tied for second place overall in the infiltration/information gathering/shinobi knowledge portion of the exam and second in taijutsu. Combined with his exemplary grades throughout the he well deserved the title: 'Rookie of the Year'

As with any teacher the next person to garner Iruka's attention was the one who gave him the most trouble, which in this case was also the student to make the biggest improvement, Senju Naruto. The boy wasn't exactly a delinquent per se, though he did at times sleep through his afternoon classes, Naruto's grades in applied math, tactics and shinobi history were always the highest in the class and he had even managed to tie with Haruno Sakura in attaining a perfect score in the final paper exam.

His skills in all other areas save for trap-making were atrocious though and for a while it Iruka had worried about the boy's eyesight because he couldn't seem to hit even the closest of targets. The fact that the child couldn't even perform a simple bunshin had left Iruka convinced that the boy's mother would hold him back from taking the exam for a third year running.

That had been one year ago.

Somewhere along the lines someone, most likely at the behest of the afore-mentioned parent, had taken Naruto aside over the summer and helped him to polish his skills. The most obvious improvement was the child's taijutsu. While it was still the same academy fare, Naruto's Konoha-ryu had been purged of every sloppy habit and incorrect technique.

Actually there were several elements to the style that the boy seemed to grasp instinctively at a level that even some chunin that Iruka knew would be hard pressed to match. The boy's movement in hand to hand combat now exemplified efficiency of motion, speed and power, with a heavy emphasis in evasion and maintaining and advantageous position. It was more than enough to overmatch stronger and faster fighters like Akimichi Chouji and Inuzuka Kiba in skill; and efficient enough to outlast skilled and technically correct fighters like Aburame Shino; and for the final exam the former dead last had even managed to maneuver Uchiha Sasuke into a ring-out.

Iruka kept note of Naruto's steady improvement in the class ranking, watching with pride as he placed first in taijutsu and infiltration/information gathering and shinobi knowledge, tying for first place with Haruno Sakura in the last during the exams. The boy scraped though the genjutsu requirement in last place and placed sixth overall in field work. In the end Iruka had proudly handed the Naruto his forehead protector after the ninjutsu requirement was cleared, watching in amusement as the three clones the boy had wasted an obscene amount of chakra creating danced soundlessly across the classroom floor.

For Iruka, Naruto's rate of improvement was nothing short of phenomenal. He couldn't help but wonder how far the boy's development would take him.

And now it was time to let them go…

"Sakura quiet down!" Mizuki quieted the cheering girl as Iruka continued to call out the roster of team assignments, "Team Eight, Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba… Team Nine…"

A mousy little girl, in the back fourth row near the door sagged in disappointment.

Iruka continued oblivious, "Team Ten, Nara Shikamaru, Uzumaki Naruto…"

"Mendoukusai…" Shikamaru grumbled, holding his chin in his hand.

"Yamanaka Ino. " The chunin carried on.

"Yes!" The blond girl in question cheered, before returning to her seat blushing, sending furtive glances at the clueless Senju.

Shikamaru slumped against his desk bonelessly. The rest of the announcement too _tiresome_ to even listen to.

* * *

Nara Shikamaru found a lot of things about his life to be tiresome. Getting up in the morning; taking out the trash; cleaning his room; listening to his mother lecture him a about his hair; dealing with the jerks that kept taunting his friend Chouji, INO... It's not like he couldn't do anything about it -he just didn't feel like it, it was just too… troublesome most of the time to deal with and he usually found much easier ways to get things done without any fuss and just a minimum of effort. The answers to most of life's problems came easily to him when he bothered to think of such tiresome things. They more or less amounted to people are troublesome, go to sleep and maybe they'll lose interest and go away.

There were only two people that tack didn't work on as far as he could tell. One was his mother, the other…

-Smack-

"Wake up you lazy ass! Oh I swear!"

…was Ino…

Shikamaru blearily opened his eyes, he gave a faint look of betrayal to Chouji who was supposed to be blocking the end of the aisle and preventing Ino from approaching him. His gaze turned sympathetic however when his friend turned to look at Ino's self-proclaimed rival in love, Haruno Sakura, hurrying out of the classroom, most likely in search of her crush, the 'Rookie of the Year' Uchiha Sasuke. Shikamaru sighed and nodded his understanding. He and Chouji had talked about what the other boy would do if by some irritating course of events, their parents' not so secret; secret request for their children to be teamed up somehow fell through.

For a time it had seemed like a done deal, Chouji wasn't the best at class but he excelled in taijutsu and there were others below him. It only took a minimum of effort on Shikamaru's part to keep his friend from being in danger of flunking out. For a time it seemed that last place was reserved for Senju Naruto who held first place in the theoretical work like code breaking, math and shinobi history, but that was hardly surprising for someone who'd been as rumor said, an early entrant to the academy and likely had a full three years on his peers.

Out of the classroom Shikamaru noted that the other boy's shinobi skills had been laughable aside from wilderness survival. Sakura beat him in taijutsu, he couldn't hit a practice target with a kunai to save his life and his bunshin technique was, to be blunt, abysmal. Most of the adults looked on with barely restrained pity with an undertone of disappointment. Shikamaru could understand, having seen the skills of the class rank leader, just how far below the expected threshold of talent the scion of two illustrious clans fell. The other kids were also downright mean, especially after the day they learned about Naruto's mother and the Uzumaki clan in class. The boy seemed to press himself deeper and deeper in his seat, trying to avoid the prying gazes that seemed to say, 'Huh? That's you?'

But Naruto secluded himself not long after that, heading straight home and not leaving unless he had to. Shikamaru wasn't willing do something so troublesome as seek the other boy out when it was none of his business and Chouji needed his help more, so the Nara forgot about the whole tiresome mess; at least until the beginning of the final year.

If Shikamaru had to put it into words, he'd say that Naruto became sharper after he returned from holidays, sharper and crisper. In the taijutsu spars he now excelled even against the likes of Uchiha Sasuke with increasing frequency. It wasn't like he learnt new moves or skills. He still practiced the same Konoha-ryū that everybody else learnt. Only now there was a lot less wasted movement, a lot more thought was put into his fights and his ability to sense attacks even from a blind spot bordered on the supernatural. From the moment he'd seen the writing on the wall, he'd tried altering his plans to suit, but there was nothing he could do. Naruto shot past the bottom rankers and firmly established himself in the top ten by the time final examinations came about.

Troublesome…

* * *

**Tsunade**

Medical Report:

_Given subject's baseline results, the likely-hood of surviving initial procedures without complications is greater than ninety-six percent, influxes from secondary chakra source noted. [Name Redacted] has been reluctant to proceed in this endeavor but I have prevailed upon the old bastard just what his choices are. [Name Redacted] agreed on the condition that all procedures be as thoroughly and rigorously vetted as possible. Damned right they will be!_

_Administered initial treatment to subject… Na-chan… I haven't left his side all day. We knew it would be painful, but he can't even sleep. I've overridden my own medical protocols to keep knowledge of what we're doing from getting out. We estimate that our research into the persistent beneficial effects of Raiton no Yoroi (Lightning Armor) on the nervous system has not only enhanced Na-chan's reflexes, but the mutation to the medullary, myelin and neurilemma sheaths have had the effect of improving his conscious reaction times and speed of thought._

_This… hurts more than I thought it would._

_Orochimaru, you disgust me, but what does it say about I who willingly use your research. The information retrieved with the blessing of the council has drastically improved our ability to treat a wide range of degenerative illnesses and even enhance a shinobi's abilities without the need for invasive surgery._

_The real gems I've saved for my darling child. Thankfully the reaction was much milder that the last treatment. He was only bedridden for a week as the nodules formed in marrow and muscle. The stem cell clusters worked perfectly in harmony with the aid of [Name Redacted]'s seals. We had a scare as the mineral supplements proved insufficient, by the end of it we were literally force-feeding him chalk. Need to account for the Fox's effects on his body, reactions not detrimental so far and controllable due to the seals but initially unnerving, the deposits are added to his bones almost instantaneously!_

_A Hyuuga may have noted the changes._

_Silencing her did not prove necessary._

_Second stage guided by seals, improved durability of arterial tissue, increased level of blood clotting enzymes, elevated levels of red and white blood cells. Linked a modified Yin-seal in preparation for the full implantation of Souzu Saisei no jutsu. Secondary benefit is that the seal seems to be working to help purify previously noted influxes of the Fox's chakra and storing certain amounts of the potent energy._

_Noted side effect is a significant improvement of chakra control, disruption seal to be applied at a later date so as to avoid drawing undue attention._

_Third stage initiated. Muscle and bone growth accelerated, as predicted, enhanced blood vessels proved capable of taking the increased strain. Nodules forming at unanticipated organ sites, initial study indicates that the deviation from planned alteration is beneficial. Oxygen retention increased, lactase recovery time shortened, Na-chan led us on a wild chase around the village, no eight year old should have such stamina. Yin-seal attached to extra stem cell nodules, redundancy has resulted in a passive healing ability, noted in previous Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, but enhanced well beyond previously observed phenomena. Investigating alterations due to this may necessitate changes in future medical protocols._

_Noted enhanced blood flow through eyes in addition to the effects of the previous stages of treatment has resulted in grossly enhanced visual acuity, and capacity for fast tracking and smooth continous eye movements. Increased blood pressure resulted in migraines and temporary loss of vision until his body adapted. _

_Noted increase in chakra potency due to augmented state of body, resistance seal added to disguised disruption seal. His healing ability compensated by increasing lung capacity after a few weeks of apparent lethargy. Shizune is growing concerned, I've arranged for an extended mission, something safe but further away. Hopefully I'll have a more convenient distraction for her when she returns; she needs the experience any way._

_Slowly releasing restrictions on nervous system and musculature, I've arranged for a suitable trainer to ease him into adapting to new levels of strength and reflexes, [Yamato] keeps gushing over potential, gushed too much in the wrong direction. A meeting with the Third and assorted councilors ensued. A pointed discussion over how far I'm prepared to go to ensure my son gets a full education at the academy followed. Rejected offer of training Na-chan in ROOT, rejected offer of moving Na-chan to accelerated stream, rejected proposal to betroth Na-chan to suitable female, shelved all further discussion until a later date._

_Paid for property damage caused by the discussion..._

_[Name Redacted] informs me that Na-chan may be idiot savant when it comes to fuinjutsu, emphasis on idiot._

_[Name Redacted]informs me that his leg doesn't bend that way._

_Matter with Hyuuga Yui resolved when medical advancements utilized in Na-chan helped cure wasting disease and haemophilia due to inbreeding, symptoms onset after second childbirth, barely survived first, I have to say it, the Hyuuga are fucking retarded. Na-chan introduced to eldest daughter, cute kid but a likely genetic dead end. I am reconsidering stance on marriage proposal though, Na-chan's that is._

_Temporarily released disruption seal, chakra control advanced from abysmal to proficient genin level in less than twenty-four hours. Seal re-applied, instructing him in kage-bunshin, tsuchi-bunshin to make up for deficiency._

_

* * *

_

**AN: This chapter was two thirds completed long ago, time constraints and personal commitments mean that I'm presenting two chapters instead of three as planned. If the text is odd it's because the FF .net window editor is messing with me. If Tsunade seems a little mean or unbalanced that's intentional. She's pretty much locked onto Naruto and these are her private thoughts that she's writing down, her unvarnished opinions. **


End file.
